Wednesday, July 29, 2009

This just in: St. Louis is where the Dodgers go to die. A one-run lead with two out in the ninth inning devolved into a 15-inning whiff-fest ending in, yes, another Cardinals win.

But first, the good stuff. In the longest outing of his career, Clayton Kershaw was outstanding beyond words, needing only 112 pitches to hold the Cardinals scoreless over eight innings. He gave up only four hits and had seven strikeouts. Remember, he's 21 years old. As Phil Gurnee at True Blue LA says, not for sale at any price. Well put.

There was defense from unexpected sources as well. With the Cardinals threatening to score with two men on, Manny Ramirez made a spectacular catch to end the seventh:

And Andre Ethier made this spectacular catch to end the 11th:

Unfortunately, Jonathan Broxton ran into more two-out trouble, allowing the tying run in the ninth (his third blown save of the season). The two teams traded punchless punches from that point on, except for a scoring Matt Kemp sacrifice fly in the 11th, which Ramon Troncoso gave back in the bottom of the inning. But Hong-Chih Kuo and Guillermo Mota did their jobs, and Jeff Weaver pitched 2 2/3 heroic scoreless innings until Albert "God" Pujols touched him up for the winning run in the 15th.

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Not to be a doomsayer or anything like that, but if this were the NLDS we would be eliminated. On the bright side there is no need to trade for a legit ace because we already have one, but on the downside that didn't help us win.

Let's hope this brutal loss doesn't send the team into a tailspin.

Two struggling starters go up against one another tomorrow so anything can happen.

For three straight games, the starters have kept them in the game (Bills' implosion aside, but he was probably cracking from the lack of run support) and the bats have failed to deliver. Three games, three runs. What the hell? And the head-scratching-est part is that they've OUTHIT the Cards all series.

The Phillies' trade for left-hander Cliff Lee only added to the pressure on the Dodgers to bolster their pitching staff.

Blue Jays right-hander Roy Halladay remains a possibility, but only if the Dodgers are willing to part with the necessary prospects.

The Blue Jays would not require the Dodgers to include right-hander Chad Billingsley or lefty Clayton Kershaw in a deal for Halladay, according to major-league sources.

But Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has said publicly that the Jays want five or six of his team's best young players.

The Jays, in need of a shortstop, surely would have interest in Ivan DeJesus Jr., who has been out the entire season with a broken right leg, or Devaris Gordon, a younger shortstop who is the son of reliever Tom Gordon.

Among the other Dodgers prospects who could interest the Jays: Outfielder Andrew Lambo, right-hander Josh Lindblom, third baseman Josh Bell and right-hander Chris Withrow.